


Gray Area

by dasocrazy



Category: TharnType the Series (TV), เกลียดนักมาเป็นที่รักกันซะดีๆ | TharnType: The Series (TV) RPF
Genre: Detective Gulf Kanawut, Ex-Detective Mew Suppasit, Happy Ending, M/M, Mafia Boss, Officer Win Metawin, Pining, Slow Burn, based on real cases, side couple exist
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:48:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24888628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dasocrazy/pseuds/dasocrazy
Summary: mewgulf detective x mafia au!Gulf Kanawut works alone as a private detective, since the disappearance of his partner, Mew Suppasit.Will they ever cross paths again?
Relationships: Mew Suppasit Jongcheveevat/Gulf Kanawut Traipipattanapong
Comments: 20
Kudos: 52





	1. Missing Parts

Gulf Kanawut lived off of caffeine these days, mostly coffee. The digital clock that's across from him flashed 04:57 A.M. He took off his glasses, rested his eyes for a bit and looked at the framed photo of him and his partner. He missed having another presence in the room and the constant complaints about the thick documents that they received.

_I wonder what you're doing right now, P'Mew. It's been 3 years and I've heard nothing from you yet._

Gulf stood up and walked over to his vinyl collection. He reached for the classic piece that Mew would always put on, Helene Grimaud's Water. As the soft piano sound was playing, he walked back to his desk to review the new faxed document from Officer Metawin. 

Several days ago, an interesting case caught the male's attention. Gulf has been investigating it on his own as soon as he heard it on the news. It was about a discovery of severed body parts in the middle of the sidewalk of Rodeo Drive, one of the busiest areas in Beverly Hills. The investigation has been going on for about three days, and so far the police department has found no suspect.

Officer Win Metawin, who is in charge of this case, reached out to him for his help last night. Gulf is known to be one of the youngest private detectives in the area and for having a high rate of solved cases, so there is no surprise if they reached out to him. He has helped the police numerous times, but this might be the most challenging case that he investigated on. 

_It's 2020 for fuck sakes. Technology is at its peak; why is it so hard to find evidence to at lead us to somewhere?_

Gulf sighed. He reread the list that Officer Metawin has faxed over and reviewed each document one by one. Some important details that Metawin has highlighted was that the body parts were dismembered cleanly, meaning that it was done by someone who is pretty familiar with human anatomy and had experience in it. 

Pictures of the body parts when it was discovered was also attached to the file. He took notes on what he observed.

  1. A pair of legs and arms 
  2. The index fingers on both hands are missing.
  3. When it was found, it was scattered on the sidewalk
  4. No trails of blood were seen.
  5. A ring on the thumb. 



Gulf paused. His heart dropped when he saw the ring. It reminded him of his former partner so much. It’s one of the jewelry pieces that Mew always wore. He tried to zoom in the photo as much as he could to see the details of the ring, but the picture became too pixelated.

_No no no. This can't be P'Mew's body. A lot of people wear rings on the thumb. Let's focus now!_

**_But what if it’s him?_ **

He saw a little shimmer in the photo; couldn't really tell what it was. Maybe it's time for him to leave his nest and visit the site later in the afternoon. He picked up his phone and was about to click on the contact list "P'Mew" to shoot him a text out of habit. 

_Ah! P'Mew! What have you done to me?_

He placed his phone in the desk drawer to keep him away from more distractions. The little sleep that Gulf had made his mind berserk. He thought of the worst case possible that could’ve been the reason for Mew's disappearance. His restless mind couldn’t take it anymore. Gulf went to the bathroom to grab the medication box. 

He reached for the white bottle that says “Restoril”, sleeping pills that he usually took. No rattling sound was heard when he grabbed the bottle, which only meant one thing. He ran out. 

_Nothing is going well today huh. I guess I’ll have to buy some._

Gulf really needed to sleep so he could focus for the search in the afternoon with Win. But, so many scenarios played in Gulf's mind that his head started to throb. He turned off the record player and grabbed his keys, wallet and phone along his way out to go to the nearest drugstore that was still open. 

When Gulf opened the front door, he was greeted with the dark empty streets and gust of winds. He walked down a few steps to reach the sidewalk and began the stroll. 

As he was walking, he saw something from the corner of his eyes. It was a shadow formed from the street lights. The shadow grew longer and longer which made him feel uneasy.

He turned around to see who it was so he could let them walk ahead of him. But to his surprise, no one was there. 

_I’m starting to see things._

Gulf grabbed a section of his hair to ease the throbbing headaches that he had. The gust of wind blew stronger and made the surrounding chillier. Gulf fastened his pace and reached the front door of the store in no time. 

As he was walking to the aisle that says “Pain Reliever,” he started to have the uneasy feeling again. He heard the slide door open and he noted that he is not the only one in the store at this hour. Passing by the refrigerated section, he was able to see the reflection of who came in the store. A person with a mask and cap was shown in the reflection. 

The person looked very suspicious, but Gulf knew better to not judge them. He shall be more cautious and alert. 

When Gulf reached the aisle, he grabbed the sleeping pills and some Advil to relieve his headaches, just in case he ran out of that too. Checked the expiration date and saw that it was all good, he went over to the self-checkout to pay. Self-checkout was the best option for him to avoid any more human interaction since he is not at his best state. 

After he was done paying, he told the cashier that was next to the self-checkout, “Have a nice day.” Then, he walked out of the store. A couple steps away from the front door, the male heard the door slide open. He looked back to see who came out or in the store to ease his suspicion. Again, no one was there.

_Am I being followed?_

Goosebumps on Gulf’s arm were starting to form. He grabbed his phone in his back pocket and pretended to dial a number while he walked back home. He put the phone to his ear and paused for a bit like he was waiting for the other side to pick up. 

"Hi babe! I just bought the thing that you showed me. I'm on my way home now. How is it in London?"

…

"Yeah everything is great here."

…

"Oh I saw this thing on Youtube where they try to wake up early. I’m trying to fix it hehe. You know me with my sleeping habits"

 _I should really be an actor if this whole detective career doesn’t work out—_ he thought to himself. 

Gulf felt more relieved when he saw that he was near his apartment. He walked up the steps, and reached his other pockets for his keys to open the door.

“Okay babe I’m home-” 

He paused. There was a presence behind him and his heartbeat quickened. 

_Oh shit. I don’t want to look._

“ **Tua-aeng.** ” he heard someone say coming from behind. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is my first story and I'm crossposting this on Twitter: @tineloop. Feedbacks on what you think of the story so far are much appreciated>.<  
> Suggestions and critics are also open so it can be improved on!
> 
> Thank you!


	2. Ring Ring Ring

**”Tua-aeng”**

Gulf frozed in place. His breath became unsteady as he heard the familiar voice. What should he say when he faced Mew? He wasn't prepared at all. He mustered up his last ounce of bravery and looked behind to see who it was.

"P’Mew?"

There was no one. He was utterly shocked, stunned even. This happened too many times, where Gulf was hearing his voice. But Gulf swore that he had felt like someone was there, behind him saying that phrase that brought him back many memories. 

Feeling flustered and unstable, Gulf opened the door and went inside the apartment. Each step that he took when he walked up the stairs to the second floor grew heavier. Maybe it’s from the exhaustion of feeling paranoid all the time. Gulf was not the type to believe about supernatural beings. So when these things occurred, he would always brush them aside, yet this time it was different. He was spooked up a couple of times and actually felt scared.

When Gulf finally reached his apartment room, he put away all of the things that he bought on the marbled kitchen counter and headed straight to the bathroom to take a shower. After the shower, he walked toward the kitchen to grab the medicine. Opening the new box and unscrewing double safety cap, he shook the bottle to his palm and let a tablet fall out. Gulf then walked to grab a glass of water to drink his medicine with. Once he drank the medicine, he felt a little better knowing that he can finally rest his mind a little. 

Before going to his bed, he reached for his phone that he left on the kitchen counter and left his daily message to Mew through a voicemail. Pressing his contact name was always hard when he knew that it’ll only get sent to his voicemail. He tried to keep his hope up, hoping that the other side would pick up. He gave up on texting him and calling him is the only way to cope with his emptiness because of Mew’s voice in the voicemail. 

When Gulf pressed Mew’s name on the contact list, he waited for a couple seconds as it tried to connect. 

“Hel-” 

“Sorry, I might not be able to pick up the call right now because I’m busy. Shoot me a text or a voicemail. I’ll contact you back A.S.A.P. Thanks” The recorded voicemail said. 

“Hey Mew. This is my 1,144th message, I know it’s crazy of me to keep track. When are you coming back Mew? Where did you go? I hope you’re doing okay, just send me a reassurance that you’re okay please. I’m going to go to sleep now. Bye.”

Gulf pressed the red icon to end the call. After that, he went over to his bed, laid down and set his alarm for 12 o'clock. Closing the clock application on his phone, he read that it was almost 6:15 A.M. He set his phone on the nightstand and closed his eyes, trying not to think about anything so he can fall asleep faster. 

The alarm blasted and woke Gulf up. He reached for his phone on the nightstand and turned it off. He looked at the time and it was 12:27 P.M, which meant that he had slept through 2 alarms. Gulf got out of bed and began to get ready to meet Win in an hour. For his first meal, he drank a bottle of Starbucks coffee that was in the fridge because that was the only thing that was easy to consume since he’s in a time crunch. 

Gulf got ready to go to the crime site so he wore simple casual formal attire, a white button up with a black pants. Checking himself in the full body mirrored, he thought that he looked presentable enough. The thought of the incident in front of his house last time was still jarring. 

_What was that though? Was it just my mind? I’ll talk to Win about this later._

Win has helped Gulf in trying to find Mew's whereabouts. But there was not much information found. Mew was always secretive and never really talked about himself as much. Whenever Gulf asks personal things to Mew like he did to Gulf, Mew would always change the topic. At those times, Gulf didn’t really think of it as much. He thought that maybe he’ll eventually open up to him, but now it was too late. Mew’s nowhere to be seen and Gulf was starting to lose hope.

His thoughts were disurbed from a ping of notification coming from his phone, trying to get his attention. 

1 Message.

It was from Officer Win, telling him the exact location to go to. He replied a quick “Thanks” to Win. After that, Gulf went to the bathroom to brush his teeth because he hated when his breath smelled like coffee throughout the day. Then, he grabbed a small notebook, the pictures, a pen to jot down notes later on, and his keys and phone. He put on his shoes, turned off his lights and went out of his room and locked the door. As he was going down to the main door, he heard a couple of knocks. He looked from the window to see who it was, and it was the delivery person.

“Hello” Gulf greeted.

“A delivery for Gulf Kanawut?”

“Yup. That’s me” he said and grabbed the package.

“Can you sign for me here?” The delivery person said while pointing to the area that Gulf was supposed to sign.

“Here you go, thank you.” Gulf said, giving the delivery person the paper back.

After Gulf had received the package, he went back inside and placed it on the floor to open later. Maybe it was something from Amazon that he ordered a while back because he doesn't remember purchasing anything recently. Then, Gulf finally headed out to the bus stop to go to the site. Yes, he took the bus because he still doesn’t know how to drive at the age of 22. He depended on Mew for a ride almost all the time because he was always with him and it was convenient; learning how to drive or get a driver's license wasn’t Gulf’s priority at this point. 

There wasn't anything suspicious during the bus ride. It was not as packed as he thought since it’s in the middle of the day, where it should be the busiest. It was quite nice. He got off the bus and walked a couple blocks, about a 6 minutes walk according to Google Maps. He saw the area where the yellow “DO NOT CROSS” tape had been surrounding the site so other people would not tamper the evidence. 

When he reached the site, many officers were guarding the area, some were taking more pictures of the site and white signs that said “Sidewalk is Closed” were also there. The outline of where the limbs were found were drawn by white chalks. Gulf tried to find Officer Win in the crowd. He finally spotted him, Win waved his arms frantically, trying to get Gulf’s attention. 

“Hey Win”

“Hey Gulf, how was the ride here?”

“Not bad, not bad. So what’s happening here?” 

“They’re just talking more pictures for further investigations, nothing much.” 

“Okay I’m going to look around the area too. Be right back” Gulf said with a pat on Win’s shoulder. 

Win was one of the few people that was close to Gulf. He had been working with Win in a lot of cases in the past. Gulf just gravitated to him from his cheery and enthusiastic attitude and they clicked very well. They helped each other on cases that they worked on using the connections that both males had made. One of them is Mew’s case. Win helped Gulf in trying to find Mew’s whereabouts using his connections in the police departments. 

Gulf took out his little notepad that included pictures that were sent by Win and a pen. Holding the pictures up to the area, trying to match the location of where the picture was taken, he finally found it. It was on the further side of the tape, near the edge of the sidewalk where he found the shiny thing that was on the picture. Gulf put his blue rubber glove on and grabbed the piece of glass. He puts it closer to his eyes to examine it closely, taking in any notice if there's anything unusual. 

_All of the edges on the glass are smoothen out but this one side. Hmm weird._

Gulf looked for Win again to show him what he found. When he took notice of him, he walked up to Win and said, "Win, look what I found." He stretched his arm out and opened his palm to show him his discovery. 

“A broken glass?”

“Yeah, but look at it. The edges look like it’s smoothen out except this side. Do you have an evidence bag?”

“Oh that’s weird, they can take a look at that and here.” Win said as he opened the bag for Gulf to put the new evidence in. 

“Also what was the autopsy result? Did they find who it belonged to?” Gulf asked to Win. 

“So they did an autopsy to identify who the body belonged to. They did a fingerprint test and the DNA test. The result for the fingerprint test was out already but the DNA one will come out later since that takes longer. And the fingerprints result showed no records of who it could possibly belong to.” Win explained to Gulf and he wrote down some things that Win just told him. 

“I see… Can we visit the autopsy site so I can see it in person?”

“We can go and check it out, I’ll have to ask the authorities there though.” Win answered. 

“Okay, let’s go?”

“You’re done here?” Win asked him. 

“Yes, for now.” Gulf replied. 

“Okay. My car is parked over there” Win said pointing to the other side of the street at the parking lot. 

They walked to the parking lot and Win pressed the car key to open the car. The beeping sound and the flashed light, showed which car belonged to Win. Gulf followed him behind when they walked toward the white BMW. He then opened the door of the front passenger side, sat down and put on his seat belts. Same goes for Win as he started the engine. 

“Did you get any sleep last night? Your eye bags are getting worse.” Win said jokingly as he drove. 

“Yeah I did. Slept at like 6 A.M though.”

“Damn! What did you do? New cases?”

“No, I was just going over what you sent me yesterday and I don’t know Win. P’Mew is in my mind a lot of times. Like every little thing reminds me of him! This morning, I went to go buy some medicine, and I swore I heard his voice before I went in the house. But when I turned around, there was nobody! I’m going insane right Win?” Gulf ranted to Win. 

“Wow. That seems a lot but no, you’re not insane Gulf. You missed him a lot. It’s understandable for you to feel that way.” Win ensured Gulf.

“Yeah, I’m just confused. I have so many questions to ask like where did he go? Why did he leave? Why didn't he say anything?” Gulf rubbed his forehead. 

Win patted Gulf’s shoulder, while the other hand was on the steering wheel to comfort him. 

“Hopefully good news will come Gulf.” 

“I hope so too.” Gulf replied and they rode to the rest of the ride in silence. Gulf opened the window a little to let the wind hit his face. It was all calming his frantics a while ago.

They arrived at the autopsy room and saw the coroner taking notes and examining the doctors who were performing a post mortem on a recent body. Gulf caught the whiff of the formalin that the doctors were using. The smell of iron from the blood on the uncleaned steel autopsy table was also noticeable. 

Win tapped Gulf’s shoulder to gain his attention and said, “I’m going to talk to the doctor and the coroner for them to take out the limbs.” Gulf nodded as his reply. Judging from Win’s expression when he walked back to him, they seemed to agree. 

“They agreed for you to take a look. But they’ll have to stay in the room to watch.”

“Okay that’s reasonable.”

Gulf walked over to the sink area to grab a pair of gloves from the box. He waited on the side of the autopsy table as he watched the doctor open up the square steel refrigerator and pull out the tray that the limbs were resting at. They put it on the table for Gulf to examine. 

Warning: Description of severed body parts. 

The limbs looked like it started to decompose as he saw the discoloration on the outer layer of the tissue. The parts where the arms and legs used to connect were now black. He saw the hands where the index fingers were missing. It was now left as a stub and the bone of the remains started to show, but Gulf noticed that the stub was in different color as the end of the arm. The stub on the index fingers were less darker. It should've been the same, unless it was severed at different times. He opened his notepad and began jotting down his observations. 

“Uh doctor, were there any insects in the limbs when it was found?” 

“Actually yes. Let me take them out for you” The doctor said and took out a jar that was filled with preserved maggots.

“Here you go” The doctor handed the jar over to Gulf. 

“Wow. There’s a lot of them. What stage were they in?”

“Yes. According to the entomology department, most of them are in the third instar larva stage.”

“How long does it usually take for them to reach that stage?”

“They said it’s around 5-8 days depending on the environment conditions.” 

The doctor replied as Gulf was taking notes of the information that he just received. With that information, Gulf can estimate how long ago that the body parts were out and eventually can lead to the estimation of the time of death. 

“Okay thank you for that.”

“No problem.”

Gulf took out to the picture and began comparing it to the limbs on the table. He noticed that the discoloration of the limb was much different than the one in the photo. He took a double look on the picture and the limbs on the table, making sure that he wasn’t seeing things. The ring on the thumb on one of the hands was not there anymore. Maybe the doctor took it off so Gulf asked them for confirmation. 

“Excuse me doc, can I see the ring that was on the thumb of this hand” Gulf said as he pointed at the hand that he believed the ring was on. 

**“What ring? It was never there when it got here.”**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and sticking with me to the next chapter~ As always, suggestions and comments are welcome. And so sorry for the long wait. This chapter became more techincal than I thought it would be. I hope you enjoyed this update!


	3. Orders

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm here with a new update!  
> I hope you enjoy today's chapter :)

**“What ring? It was never there when it got here.”**

“What do you mean it was never there?” Gulf asked in confusion. He showed the doctor the picture, “There’s a ring on that finger when it was found. See, can you please try to remember again?”

“May I see the picture?” the coroner asked Gulf. He complied and walked toward them to show the picture. The coroner looked at the picture and saw the distress in Gulf’s gaze as they were trying to confirm the new information. 

“I see that the evidence might have been tampered. However, we’re not the one to report this incident to. We’ll notify the higher up and let them decide on what to do with this information.” The coroner explained to Gulf and Win. 

“Win and I can go to the police stations and relay this message if that’s okay.” Gulf suggested. 

“If that’s what you want. You can do that.” The coroner replied. 

Gulf faced Win and asked if it was okay with him to go together. Win gave Gulf a smile along with the nod in agreement. They both thanked the doctor and the coroner and headed out to Win’s car to go to the police station. 

On the way to the police station, Gulf noticed that they weren’t following the GPS any more and were headed elsewhere. 

“Where are we going Win?”

“Just sit back Gulf. I wanna visit a place first.” 

“Just tell me. We need to tell them as soon as possible so they can start investigating it.” Gulf was said in a grouchy tone. He was not in the mood to be playing around because of what happened. 

“We’re almost there. Just hold on.” Win said and Gulf complied because he didn’t have the energy to argue at the moment. He hoped that Win knew what he’s doing and just trusted him for now. 

In the meantime, Gulf reviewed his notes and the picture that he had of the crime site. He began to form his theory behind it. 

_Win said that the person didn't have any fingerprint record. It could be that the person is not from the area, or they are someone around 20-25 years old who just didn't register their fingerprints. That's very common for people around that age to do._

_Also, the maggots were around the 5-8 days stage, so we know that the person was not alive for that many days already, but ... what was the motive behind the different timing between cutting the limbs and the index fingers?_

_And where could the ring possibly be? Stolen? Could it have slipped out? What if that ring was P’Mew’s?_

Gulf closed his notes and his eyes to rest a little. Rubbing his forehead to ease clear his mind and letting the breeze blow made him relaxed. Not until Win hit the break. The sudden jolt surprised Gulf and he tried to regain his composure by holding onto the handle that’s on the car’s ceiling and the seatbelt. 

“What was that for? Were you trying to kill me?” Gulf asked with a higher toned and raised voice. 

“Sorry there was a cat that just passed by. By the way we’re here!” Win said with enthusiasm. In excitement, Win got out of the car first while Gulf tried to recollect himself and went out as well. They were in front of a bakery called Paris Baguette.

“Why are we here Win?” Gulf asked.

“I heard your stomach grumbling. I’m kind of hungry too.” Win replied sheepishly. 

They opened the door and the bell rang, letting everyone know in the room that they just came in. 

“Welcome,” said the worker named Off Jumpol who was cleaning the nearby table. 

“Thank you,” Win and Gulf said in unison. They walked to the pastry section and each grabbed a tray with parchment paper and a tong. They then walked toward the glass cabinet that stored all of the pastries and read the labeled tags to see which one was more appetizing to eat. Gulf was not a fan of sweets so he chose the savory option instead. He opened the glass cabinet and used his tong to grab the food while Win grabbed a couple of egg tarts and a chocolate cream puff. 

“What did you get Gulf?” 

“I got ham and cheese croissant.” Gulf replied. 

“That’s all you’re getting? I’m treating you, you know” 

“In that case, then I’ll get an iced matcha latte too.” 

“Sounds good. Let’s go get in line” Win said, directing Gulf to the cashier. 

There were a couple of people in front of them, four to be exact. While they were waiting, Gulf looked around the place and found that it was really pleasing and well decorated. The simple look made the place more spacious and modern.

Win nudged Gulf with his elbow, “Gulf look at the cashier.” Win said in a whisper. 

“Which one?” 

“The one in a gray crewneck.”

“What about him?” Gulf said.

“He’s cute.” Win said with a full on grin. Gulf sighed and rolled his eyes at what Win just said. “Sure” Gulf replied sarcastically. Gulf looked around the bakery and saw that the workers were all male and the majority of the people who lounged in the seats were females, glancing and giggling at the workers. It was a pretty good marketing strategy, Gulf would probably come visit again in the future. 

As the line started to move, Win was able to look at the cashier much better and he really liked what he was seeing. Gulf knew about Win’s sexuality, the moment when Gulf mentioned Mew. Win saw the chemistry that Mew and Gulf emitted when they were working together. They would often finish each other's sentences when they presented their theories and it really amazed Win. Win knew about Gulf’s feelings for Mew the moment he first worked with them, but they insisted on acknowledging their true feelings for each other. Gulf would always suppressed any thoughts or ideas on the possibility that Mew might actually reciprocate his feelings. He just felt like it was stupid of him to think that way and he don’t want to ruin anything that they had so far. Might as well just keep it in before Gulf gets hurt. 

Win made eye contact with the cashier named Bright as the name tag stated. 

“Oh my god Gulf. I just made eye contact with him. What do I do?”

“Pay the food? Don’t do anything stupid Win. We have a case to do.” Gulf replied. He glanced at the cashier to see if Win was being delusional or not. Their eyes met. Gulf broke the eye contact because he found it weird if it was kept any longer. 

It was finally Gulf and Win’s turn to pay. Win slid the tray on the counter top as Bright clicked on the machine to enter the order. 

“Hello, is it for here or to go?” The cashier asked. 

“Hi, for to-go please.” Win said with a toothed smile. 

“Will that be all?”

“Can I also get a large iced flat white. and … hold on,” Win paused to turn to Gulf and asked him “Gulf what do you want again?” 

“Iced matcha latte,” Gulf answered, standing away from the line. 

“And a large iced matcha latte please” Win said to Bright. 

“And your name?” Bright asked as he grabbed the cups.

“Jay.”

Win didn’t want to give his real name to any stranger, even if they are good looking. What Win didn’t realize was that Bright heard Gulf mentioning Win’s name in their conversation. 

Win reached his pocket for his wallet to pay but stopped at what he heard.

“It’s on the house.”

“What? Why?” He squinted, trying to see if the latter was joking or not. 

Bright shrugged, gave the packed pastries to Win and walked away from the cashier to the coffee machine station leaving Win in dazed and confused. 

“Hey Off, can you come and cover for a minute.” Bright called out. Off walked to the station. Off went inside; behind all of the coffee machines Bright and Off exchanged information. 

“Our target is here. I’m going to text boss for a bit.” Bright whispered to Off. 

“Got it.” Off walked to the cashier with a smile to greet the next customer. 

“Next in line!” Off called out. Win moved aside and stood next to Gulf.

Bright took out his phone quickly and clicked the named “Boss Suppasit” in his contact list. 

Message Transcript:

Boss Suppasit

Boss, Gulf is here at my workplace, Paris Baguette

Is he alone?

No he's with someone named Win

They seem very close

Keep an eye on them

The next time you update, you better tell me their relationship

Yes sir.

  
  


After he texted his boss, Mew, Bright went on to make the drinks. On the cup sleeve, Bright wrote down his number along with a small heart. After he was done, he looked at it again in satisfaction.

 _I can’t believe I have to do this. This is too embarrassing. I guess you gotta do what you gotta do._ Bright thought to himself while looking at his work. 

While that was happening, Win walked to the Gulf where he was sitting on one of the tables, failing to contain his excitement. 

_Why would he give me a freebie? He’s cute and nice? There must be a catch._ Win thought.

“I may or may not have just met the love of my life.” Win said excitingly.

“What are you talking about?” 

“Remember the cute cashier that I told you, he gave me all of this for free! I don’t know why though. I guess he just can’t resist this cute face” Win said with a smug look. Gulf grimaced at Win’s last statement and pretended to vomit.

“Yeah right. He needs to get some glasses or something.”

“For Jay!” Bright called out. 

“Hold this for me,” Win put the bag of pastries on the table and he walked to the area that says Pick-Up. 

“Here you go” Bright handed the two cups of drinks to Win with a warm smile. Win took the drinks from Bright’s grasp

“Thank you” Win replied with a full on grin, failing to mask his calm and collected demeanor. He felt the temperature arose, making his face flushed. Bright’s smile had that much effect on Win; it will be imprinted in his mind for a while. 

“Have a nice day.”

“You too."

Win walked back to Gulf and he gave him his drinks as he sat down across from him. Gulf took a sip of his drink and saw something on Win’s cup sleeve. 

“Win, what’s that on your cup sleeve?”

Win raised his cup to his eye level to see what Gulf was talking about. His eyes widened and a big grin followed. 

“He gave me his number!” Win exclaimed a little too loud and Gulf hushed him down to save them both from embarrassment. 

“Calm down would y-” the ringtone of Gulf’s phone interjected his statement. 

He grabbed his phone that displayed the caller with the name “Neighbor Gun” in his contact list. He answered the call without hesitation

“Hello?”

"Hey Gulf. I just wanted to let you know that your package is in the hallway. I don't know what you ordered, but the place is stinking up."

"Uhm sorry. I actually don't know what it is either. It was sent this afternoon though."

"Did you bought frozen food or something? Because it's leaking out some liquid. It might've melted and went bad."

Gulf never bought any groceries online or any frozen things. To hear that there’s liquid oozing out and smell? He hoped that the package was not what he thought it was. Gulf went along with the neighbor to not raise any suspicion.

He laughed and said, “Yeah I think I did. I'll be back soon though. Sorry for the inconvenience. Oh and please don't touch the box, I don't want your hands to get dirty" 

“Okay just make sure you clean up after the mess. I don’t want the landlord to see if she makes a surprise visit.”

“Got it. Thanks for telling me Gun.”

“Yeah no problem, bye.” 

“Bye,” Gulf replied and Gun ended the call. Win asked who was on the line with Gulf and he replied, "The neighbor. He said that the package that I got before going to you was starting to smell and there's a leak in the box. It might be another evidence Win."

“Okay let's go,” Win said and they both headed out of the bakery to his car. 

Win arrived in front of Gulf’s apartment. Win made sure that he put his car in the parking mode and turned his car off. They both got out and Gulf went ahead and jogged to the front of his apartment, fumbling in his pockets for his keys. Win followed Gulf and stood next to him. When he finally succeeded in opening the door, the whiff of pungent smell hit Gulf's and Win's nose. It was a mixture of rotten eggs, a week old trash that was left out and just the combination of awfulness. Now, Gulf understood why his neighbor complained to him. 

The sight was quite disturbing, the box that he received in the afternoon was no longer in a box shaped. The tan color of the box was now a dark brown, slouched, unable to keep itself up because of the weight of the liquid. 

Gulf took a deep breath from his mouth and covered his nose with his elbow, not wanting to lose his sense of smell. 

“Win, pass me the keys that’s hanging on the door.” Gulf said. He used the keys that he opened the door with to jab the tape of the box. He slid it across the box to open it. A simultaneous gasp from Win and Gulf was let out, perplexed and at the sight that was presented in front of them.

  
**It was a head.** A male severed head with their eyes closed, mouth opens and blood pools the box. A familiar male⏤it was a sight to see.


	4. Small World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey hey! I hope you enjoy this week's update <3 sorry that it took a while  
> also I want to mention that there's mentions of death.

The discovery of the head had left Gulf and Win perplexed and was just out of nowhere, leaving them no time to recover. 

“Win I know who this person is,”

“Who is it?”

“The head belonged to my previous client’s husband, Kao Noppakao. I think it was around 6 months ago, more or less that I last met them”

“Why would his head be here though?”

“I wish I knew the reason, Win.”

Gulf took out his phone and began to take pictures of the condition of the head and the package. The stench began to worsen so Gulf told Win to call the CSI team to come over and collect the evidence. 

Around 15 minutes later the siren was heard and grew louder, meaning that they were close. When they arrived, they immediately bagged up the severed head and put it in a container where they chilled it back so the process of decomposition would slow down. Gulf told one of the officers that he took a picture of the package and will send it to them immediately. The bioremediation specialist and forensic cleaner began to clean the area and took care of the stench. 

“Gulf and Win, can you both go to the station with me for questioning.”

“Yeah sure, we’ll follow from behind.”

They arrived at the police station and were immediately told to go to the interrogation room. Win went to the restroom first so Gulf went ahead to the room. 

Gulf entered the room and it was quite chilly there with the air conditioner blasted at the max setting. He sat down on the chair and his mind began to wonder. 

The officer who will perform the interrogation came in and sat down after he closed the door.

“We will begin the interrogation.”

“But sir, Officer Metawin is not here yet.” Gulf replied.

“It’s okay, I don’t have much time. So we will proceed with the questioning of the Severed Limbs at Rodeo Drive. Since you have found one of the evidence, it is important to tell us everything that you know formally. Now, when was the package delivered?”

“It was delivered to my house around 12:50 to 1:00 pm. I was on my way to go see the crime site and I didn’t bother to open it.” 

“What did it look like when it was delivered?”

“It looked like any other packages, nothing unusual about that’s why I didn't think about it as much. There weren’t any liquid or like temperature changes on the box.” 

“How about the delivery person, what did they look like?”

“A male, looked around mid thirties or so, wore sunglasses and a cap, and their uniform. Height wise, around 5’10 or so.” 

“We’ll look into their system to pinpoint the location of where it could’ve been delivered from.”

“Also I have some information to tell you. I got some of the pictures of the limbs when it was found at the crime site over here. And in here, there's a ring shown on the limb. When I visited the autopsy center, the ring wasn’t there.” Gulf stated as he passed the picture to the officer’s direction. 

“That’s odd. Okay we’ll look into that. Do you recognize the face of the dismembered head?”

"Yes I do actually. It’s a previous client of mine’s husband Kao Noppakao. Now the motive as to why it was delivered to my house? I’m not so sure.”

“Okay, we’ll tell the forensic team to do a DNA test to see if it matches with the limbs that we found.” 

“That’s all of the information I have sir, I’ll get back to you if I find more.”

“Thank you for that and nice working with you Sir Kanawat.”

“Yes, and I’ll get going now, have a nice day” They shook hands and Gulf left the room. 

_Why would Kao’s head be here? Does Earth know about his death? I need to contact him. Does he still have the same contact number though?_

Text Transcript 

Hey, it’s me Gulf

I was just wondering if you have heard of anything about Kao

You’re about the 3rd person to ask me abt him

And no. I don’t know anything abt that bastard.

I got a divorce 4 months ago

Oh so sorry to hear that

But can we call instead if you have time? I have something to tell you in regard about him

I don’t care about him anymore Gulf

I don’t know what problems you had between each other

But his head was delivered to my house

The ringtone of Gulf’s phone surprised him a little. He wasn’t expecting the phone call to be this immediate. It was inevitable for Gulf to tell Earth what had happened to his now-ex-deceased-husband whether they were on good terms or not. Kao was once important to Earth so he had the right to know at least what was going on.

“Hello?” a panicked whispered voice that belonged to Earth. A loud static sound that followed and the other background noises that seemed to be a mixture of people’s chatter and music filled the other side of the phone. 

“Hello Earth? Can you hear me?”

“Yeah I can hear you. What was the last text that you sent mean Gulf? His head?”

“Yes. I am so sorry to say this and I don’t know how else to deliver this message to you but he passed away. His head was dismembered and delivered to my house this afternoon, Earth.”

“...”

“Hello? Earth?” A sniffle was heard and Gulf said, “Hey, do you want me to go to you? Are you okay?”

“No. I’m still not okay Gulf. I thought I would be numbed by now. I thought that he wouldn’t have any affect on me anymore and I’m finally free from him. But hearing that he’s dead and possibly mutilated in the most inhumane way just somehow pains me. I don’t understand. ” Earth said as he tried his best to sound as clear as possible, and tried to not break down in public. 

Earth took multiple deep breaths, trying not to wail but the tears just won’t stop trickling down his face. 

“I’m part of an investigation right now and there might be a connection between the two. I’ll try to find the answer as to why this happened, Earth. Please don’t do anything that puts you in danger.” Gulf said as he tried to reassure Earth. 

Gulf had worked with Earth Katsamonnat not too long ago. They can be considered friends but not close enough to be called a close friend. Earth’s energy is probably ten times more than Win, that’s why Gulf felt like his social battery got drained quickly and most of the time it’s pretty tiring to be close to Earth. 

They knew each other back in high school, Earth was his “mentor” for the year. It was mandatory for the upperclassmen to be assigned to an underclassmen to guide them through the school year. Since then, their friendship bloomed until Kao came around. 

Kao and Earth were high school sweethearts and continued to date and got married. Gulf and the couple parted ways because they had to move to another state because Kao found a job there. 

One day, Earth contacted Gulf to rant about his relationship and from what it was described to Gulf was that the relationship is pretty toxic. Gulf would warn Earth multiple times about Kao, but Earth believed that Kao was **the one** and he was willing to tolerate it. If Earth felt that way, the best thing for Gulf to do was to support him. 

After marriage, Earth’s and Kao’s relationship worsened. They would constantly be on each other’s neck and argue over the little things. But there was one, where it involved money. Earth’s money on his bank account decreased each time and it was in large increment. He would always get notified by the bank because of how frequent the money was being taken out. The bill that he received would always say some vague thing so Earth decided to call the banks for more details and clarifications on the spendings. He was told that it was being transferred to Kao’s account. 

Earth had confronted Kao multiple times, asking him what happened to the bank accounts. Instead of an answer, Earth was bombarded with excuses like, “Since we’re married now, technically, your money is also my money.” Earth didn’t care about the money. All he wanted was for Kao to tell him that he needed help and he just wanted for both of them to go solve it together instead of going behind each other's back. 

Earth knew that Gulf was the best person to help him. He didn’t want to burden Gulf as a friend to deal with these things so he filed a formal request for an investigation. 

Gulf agreed and when the investigation happened, it was brought to light that Kao’s spendings was toward medical expenses. Gulf couldn’t really ask for more details since medical information was confidentials. All Gulf had to do was talk to more people that were connected somehow to Kao. He discovered that one of his relatives was sick and needed an immediate heart transplant for them to live. 

Once Gulf revealed it all to Earth, they talked it out and their relationship seemed to be better. Gulf is no relationship expert clearly, so that’s all he can conclude. That was the last time he ever interacted with the couple. 

“Hello Earth? Are you still with me?” Gulf asked Earth over the phone. 

“Yes I heard you Gulf, I won’t do anything. I have to go back to work now. Please contact me if you have more news or if you need to ask anything, you can just call me.”

“Will do. Once again, I am so sorry that you have to go through this Earth. Don’t overwork yourself.”

“I’ll try. Bye bye”

“Bye”

After the phone call, he gave Win a text.

Text Transcript 

Hey wya?

I’m in the car

It’s parked on the next block. I had to move because of the trash truck. 

Ok I’m coming.

Meanwhile ... 

After Win did his business in the restroom, he walked to the interrogation room to catch up with Gulf. However, the sign that says IN USE were lit up, meaning that the questioning began and Win should not interrupt. 

Today was just a lot for Win to handle. Yes he was used to seeing blood and injuries since it was part of his job as a police officer, but this was his first encounter where a head of someone was not attached to the body. The jarring image was still fresh and his mind and he just needed some distraction to get the graphic image out. 

Win walked back to his car to munch on the pastries that they bought earlier. He took a sip of his drinks and the cup sleeve caught his attention. The digits that were scribbled there made his stomach churned. He felt warm and giggly remembering the encounter with the dashing cashier. 

He wanted to text him just to thank him. Yup, just to thank him. Nothing more. Things were really messy with his job and he shouldn’t involve anyone that he barely knew. 

Win took out his phone and put it in the number. He hesitated each time he typed in a digit from the note, creating a new contact for the new number. But it was nerve-wracking so he did it like he was ripping off a bandaid.

Text Transcript

Hey this is Jay the customer from Paris Baguette earlier

I just wanted to say thanks again for the pastries

There. Win did it. He placed his phone elsewhere in the car. He didn’t want to get hung up on getting a reply from Bright. 

Win heard a knock on the window and he looked to his right and saw that it was Gulf. He unlocked the car’s door and the click sound was the signal for him to go in the car. 

“Where did you go?” Gulf asked.

“I went to the bathroom, but I saw that the interrogation started so I just went to my station to get some files and went back to the car to eat.” Win replied, showing him the bag of pastries that he ate. “How did the questioning go?”

“It went fine. I told them about the missing rings and after the interrogation, I texted Earth and told him about his husband. Well ex now. He told me that they divorced a while back.” Gulf answered. 

“Ah okay, how did he handle it?”

“He was sad of course and he took it really hard. Maybe it was my fault too in the way I told the news.”

“Well, sometimes you just have to go straight to the point”

“Yeah maybe.”

“Anyway, do you want me to give you a ride back home now?”

“Yes please. That would be great. You can stay at my place and work on the case if you want. Or do you want to call it a day?”

“I’ll drop you off. I’ll see if I can stay.”

“Okay.”

Win started the engine and drove off to Gulf’s place.

By the time they arrived, the sky darkened and the road's street light was lit up. It was already night time. What a day for both of them. 

When Gulf opened the door, he was greeted with a shorter stature male, Gun. 

“Oh hey Gulf and Win.”

“Hey Gun,” Win said while Gulf gave Gun a mini wave while closing the door. 

“Why were there police officers here earlier?” Gun asked in confusion. 

Gulf jokingly said, “One is still here with me.” 

“Tsk. I’m not talking about him. You know what I mean.” Gun said while pointing at Win. 

“We’re just dealing with a recent case. I hope it’s not bothering you or anything.”

“Not really. I’m rarely home anyway,” Gun said. 

There was a knock on the door that was followed by ringing of doorbells. 

“I’ll get it. It must be my friends.” Gun said as he walked toward the front door to unlock the door. Once he opened it, Gulf and Win noticed it was one of the cashiers from the bakery. 

“Hey Gun!” Off greeted and his attentioned shifted to the other two males behind Gun. “Oh it’s you guys from Paris Baguette earlier.” Off said.

“Oh yeah you’re one of the workers there. Wow what a small world.” Win said.

“Hey Off, did you get Mew’s text.” A male showed up behind Off, it was Bright.

Gulf heard Bright loud and clear when it was the only thing that he could register in his head, Mew. He needed a confirmation. 

“What did you say?” Gulf asked in confusion.


	5. Replacement

“What did you say?” 

The moment that Bright’s eyes met with Gulf, he knew that he fucked up.

He didn’t expect Gulf’s presence at that moment. Bright let his guard down because all he was doing was just visiting Off’s boyfriend's place, Gun. He knew that Gulf lived there but what were the odds of him to be there, at that exact time was just unfortunate. He should've known better. 

Bright panicked, he shifted his gaze to Win who seemed to be shocked as well. Why though? Were the three of them that close? Unless Win’s relationship with Gulf is closer than he thought. 

_ What should I answer?  _

“I was talking to Off about his cousin Mew, right Off” Bright answered unwaveringly, trying to sound as convincing as possible. Bright gave a help-me-look, hoping that Off will get the hint and save themselves before Mew goes berserk. Bright prayed in his head to anything out there that can hear him and get him out of this situation. 

Off sighed, trying to refrain himself for hitting Bright in the head. If only Bright could shut his mouth and know to not mention the name out and about. "Yes my cousin Mew just came back from his study abroad texted him if he could come over. Do you perhaps know him?"

_ Please work. This was the only thing that I remembered from psychology class. Please reverse psychology, do your thing.  _

“I know someone named Mew… but I don’t think it’s the same Mew that we're talking about. How old is your Mew?” Gulf perplexed at them. They seem like they were not trying to hide anything from knowing the person named ‘Mew’.

“Oh, he’s 19.”

“Oh okay.” 

_ Gulf seemed to be nonchalant about it. Did it work?  _

There was an awkward silence for a brief moment that suffocated the area. Gun felt the tension the most as the middle person and decided to excuse himself along with Bright and Off. 

“Uh… I don’t know what’s happening, but we have to go now. We can talk about this later okay? Bye” 

Before Gulf even had the chance to say “bye” back, the front door was slammed shut. 

\---------------------------------

In a dim lit office that reeks gloominess, Mew Suppasit was able to be seen under the tall stack of paper works on the desk and scattered elsewhere in the room. He tried to keep everything organized but seems to fail each time he cleaned up. There was no chance in cleaning the office especially at this time of the year, where somehow it’s always busy. 

A knock on the door was heard by the male. He told them to come in. A worker of his stepped inside the office with a yellow notepad and other documents in their hands. 

“Good afternoon sir, I would like to inform you about today’s status and the orders that are being prepared right now.”

“Okay, go on I am listening.” Mew said as he opened up a new file to prepare himself of any new things that he will need to set as a reminder. 

“The stats right now is that patients number 0734 is getting their kidneys delivered to them right now as we speak and it should get to them in about half an hour.” The man paused as he looked at his clipboards with the documents highlighted. “There are 5 deliveries in total that will be sent out in the states and about 3 orders will be deliver to Marseille, France tomorrow to Hospital de la Conception”

Mew Suppasit is the co-founder of MSS, an underground organization that sells organs for science research and transplants. With the help of his father, he was able to run the organization behind closed doors. Since he is in the United States, to have a running business that sells human organs parts is considered illegal. 

He had this organisation running for a while now, since Mew and Gulf were working together as a private detective. He had to abandon his passion for solving cases because something had to be done to save someone he loved dearly. Mew didn’t want his decision to hurt Gulf in the future. Sacrifices were needed to be made in order to keep his loved ones alive. 

“Okay great. Keep me updated about those. Who’s working with you today?”  Mew said with his hands crossed and leaned slightly back to his chair, trying to find a comfort spot to stay in. 

“Well Sir, Kao was supposed to work with me this whole week but he didn’t come on any of the days.” His secretary’s voice began to lower in volume, afraid that their boss will get mad because of the unnoticed absence of the coworker. 

“Did you find a replacement?” 

“No, not yet sir. I think I can work on this together with the other unit.” The secretary reassured. 

“No. Keep this work separate, it will get muddled up if you start working with the other unit.”

“Alright Sir. I’ll try to contact Kao again and see if there’s anyone who can be a replacement for now.” The secretary took out their phone, to what it looked like trying to make a phone call. They looked at the documents that they brought and said, “Also, one of the customers wants you to sign this document.”

Mew scanned the document that was given. It was a contract between both parties to acknowledge that the transaction that they made was confidential and consequences will not be given very lightly if any of the parties decides to leak the transaction information. A swift signature was written on the bottom left corners of the page and he handed it back to his secretary. 

“Will that be all?” Mew asked.

"Yes sir. I will inform you right away if there’s any new update. Now will you excuse me.” The worker said. Mew excused them and they walked left the boss. The room was now engulfed with silence. Mew disliked the quietness. It reminded him too much of how he’s alone. 

He turned the TV on to mask the silence in the room. It was on a news channel. Just out of curiosity at the state of the world right now, he stayed on the channel and continued to look through his emails. A quick glance at the TV from time to time was done as small breaks. 

A blurred picture of the streets were shown on the TV and that piqued Mew’s interest. He noticed the area that was displayed, it was the place near Gulf’s place. Mew began to listen to the news and it was announced that the blurred picture was a severed head. 

_ Damn what are these people doing? At least if you want to kill someone, don’t leave the body behind, amateurs.  _

A vibration of the phone against the table caught Mew’s attention. It was a text notification from Bright. Mew’s eyes widened from the text, Bright said that Gulf was at his workplace. Oh how he misses Gulf dearly. To hear that he’s in the same vicinity as his right hand person is quite relieving. But a twinge of pain in his heart grew when Bright mentioned that he’s with someone else that was not himself. 

_ What if he found a replacement? Am I not needed anymore, Gulf? What am I thinking? This should be a good thing. Someone is taking good care of him. I shouldn’t worry about it too much now.  _

Mew sent a reply to Bright and asked him to send him updates on the relationship status. He closed the messaging application, and went back onto his work with Gulf in his mind.

\--------------------------------------

Oh Gulf heard Mew’s name loud and clear alright. He wanted to see how the two of them, Bright and Off, have any connection with Mew. Mew had never mentioned their names at all when he was still working with Gulf. His head was full of thoughts and questions to ask them. The way both of them were acting was definitely suspicious. 

_ Why were they trying to keep Mew a secret from me? What is there that I can’t possibly know about? I feel like a fool here.  _

But before he could ask more, Gun jumped in and told them that they have to leave. After they left, Gulf turned to Win and said, "You hear that right? He mentioned Mew." Gulf’s eyebrows curled against each other, voice lower in tone than the usual, but louder than intended. It was getting harder to contain his frustration. 

"Yeah I think so… so what are you going to do now?" Win said in a meek voice, not anticipating the sudden voice raised at him. 

"I'll do a search on him and see if he has any connection. You saw what just happened right? They ran off so quickly! Everything was just too sus…. Anyway do you still want to stay?" 

"Maybe not tonight. It's been a long day. I'll continue tomorrow. Don't work too hard now. "

"Alright man. Sorry that I bursted out like that. Good job for today by the way and get home safe" Gulf said. As Win was about to step out, Gulf exclaimed, “Wait, actually hold on. I almost forgot. I think I found the notes that you asked for last week. Let me grab them real quick.” Gulf went upstairs quickly to get the file. 

As Gulf was retrieving the file, Win was still awestruck at Bright’s appearance. Now that he mentioned THE name, he has more reasons to talk to him. Bright intrigued Win and he wanted for him to get closer to Bright. He’s killing two birds with one stone in this situation. 

Win reached to the right pocket of his trousers to get his phone and see if there’s any reply from Bright before he came here. He could only feel the cold metals of his car keys. Win patted the other side for his phone but felt nothing. It must’ve been left in the car. 

To pass time waiting for Gulf, he checked himself in the mirror that was hanging on the wall of the small hallway next to the stairs. He fixed his hair and checked if his face had anything on there. 

“Win?” It made Win turn around to see where the voice had come from. It was Gulf at the stairs, walking down. When he reached the last step of the stairs he extended his arms to give the files to Win. 

“Here’s the file, I finally found it. It was deep in the cabinet of my closet.”

“Thank you so much, man. I’ll have to go now. See ya” Win jogged out of the apartment to his car, trying to fasten his pace because an idea just came up in his mind.

“Okay bye.” Gulf said quietly followed by a little wave since Win already went out. 

_ Why is he in a rush? _

\-----------------

When Win entered his car, he tried to recall where he might’ve put his phone at. 

_ Ah! I think I placed it here. _ Win immediately turned on the phone and he was blasted with notifications, mostly emails and his social media, none of them was from Bright. A little saddened from not getting a reply back but it’s understandable. He might’ve ignored the text since it’s from an unknown number. Win would surely have done the same. 

As Win started his car, he saw across the street, about 10 meters from where he was, Gun’s car. It seemed like they were about to leave as well. _ Perfect timing _ When the car across the street started to take off, Win tailed them behind, leaving about 3 cars between them so he wouldn’t get caught. 

After a couple minutes of driving in a straight direction, the car that Win tailed took a sharp left turn.  _ Oh no I need to catch up. I can’t lose them. _ When Win turned to the same direction, he saw that they were parking on the right side of the street. He looked around to see where he was at and they stopped near a hospital. 

Win parked across from them and stayed inside to watch them get out of the car and entered the car. All three of them. He reached for his phone that was in the cup holder of his car, and went to the voice memo to begin recording.

“Win Metawin checking in, currently the time is 10:33 PM at Beverly Boulevard. The possible suspects, Off, Gun Atthapan and Bright have entered Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Not sure for the motive, maybe for a visit to see someone. But just in case it is an important factor, I am making this report. That will be all.” 

He contemplated whether he should stay and wait for them to get out or to go back home.  _ They’re at a hospital, what can they do there other than to visit someone, right? _ Win, turned his car back on and drove back home. 

\-----------------

Pieces of papers infiltrated Gulf’s whole living space. It was on the floor, tables, chairs, pinned to the walls and was just scattered in a way where walking space was close to none existent. This was probably an exact replica of the state of Gulf’s mind. 

Everything seems so confusing and nothing seems to make sense. Ever since Gulf got involved with the recent case, Mew’s name was mentioned more often. Maybe he’s getting closer to find out why Mew disappeared. Or maybe he’s getting closer to finally see him. 

Maybe it’s one of those impulse midnight cleaning that needed to happen so Gulf can feel more at ease. His strong urge to just clean the whole place grew. When he mentioned cleaning, Gulf meant: shove everything in one area and let it just sit there until it’s no longer relevant or needed. 

He looked at the pile of the things he moved from the last time he cleaned which was resting in his office’s closet. Sorted through more papers and tried to organize the mess a little to create more space for the next batch of papers to be stored, he found a box, a dark brown wooden box with a flower on the center of the lid. 

The wooden box was quite heavy. Gulf shook it a little to have some idea what could’ve been inside of it. It was the first time that he had seen this box. 

_ Whose box is this? Could it be… P'Mew’s? _

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Sorry for the long wait. I hope this chapter was worth the long wait lol. But sad news is that I don't think that I can update as frequently as I wanted to because I'm back working now and school is about to start too. 
> 
> I'll try my best to give at least 2 updates pe rmonth but we'll see how life treats me lol. 
> 
> But yeah, I hope you enjoy this update and stay safe!


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